BACK TO BASICS

WASHAGO -- It’s been a banner year for Bracebridge’s young hockey stars and their trainer couldn’t be happier.
Mike Torkoff operates a gym out of a renovated garage on his Washago property, where over the past few years he has helped train some of the best athletes in Muskoka.
That includes Blake Parlett, who recently signed an NHL contract with the New York Rangers; Keevin Cutting, who won the 2011 OHL championship with the Owen Sound Attack; Rory McGuire, recently drafted by the OHL’s Oshawa Generals; and brothers Branden Eden, who will be playing pro hockey in Sweden next year, and Mitch Eden, who was also drafted by the Generals.
“I take a lot of pride in the guys,” said Torkoff. “They dedicate themselves and they deserve a lot of credit for what they’ve done. Hopefully some of the younger kids who are watching them will see what it takes to get to the next level.”
Torkoff had a minor pro hockey career before beginning Next Level Sports Performance.
“One of the guys I was playing with asked if I could help his kid do some off-ice training,” he said. “I started by going to his house a couple of times a week and I just went from there.”
Torkoff now regularly trains more than 50 athletes between the ages of 11 and 32. He has also recently been asked to take over as the strength and skills coordinator for the North Central Predators hockey organization.
“It’s all been word of mouth,” said Torkoff. “It’s really snowballed.”
Torkoff said nearly half of the athletes are from the South Muskoka area and he typically travels to Bracebridge twice a week to conduct fitness training on school fields.
The rest of the time, the action takes place either at the rink in Orillia or in his 1,000-square-foot garage/gym in Washago.
“It’s nothing fancy, no air conditioning, and an old stereo,” he said. “They work hard … and take full advantage of the gym being on the water.”
Torkoff said he focuses on “fast twitch muscle fibre training,” which involves quick and explosive movements.
“It’s a lot of isolation movements like quick single arm movements, or single leg squats,” he said. “It’s all designed specially for hockey training, but it also works with other sports. I work with basketball players and sprinters as well.”
This summer, Torkoff has brought in a cast of helpers that includes a yoga instructor, a sprint coach, and Torkoff’s good friend Mark Fitzgerald, who is the assistant strength training coach with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Torkoff, who also works a full-time job in Bracebridge, said the summer is a particularly busy time.
“There are some days when I go with very little sleep, and sometimes none at all,” he said.
Despite his wife and two children, ages 7 and 3, living right next door to the training facility, Torkoff said everyone has found a way to get along just fine.
“The kids absolutely love it. My wife loves it,” said Torkoff. “Many of these athletes have trained with me since before my children were born … and they’re now like older siblings.”
Torkoff will be on the ice in Gravenhurst at the end of August for a pair of training camps.